New Delhi, March 28
Brushing aside Haryana’s contention that agitators had disrupted rail and road traffic spontaneously and peacefully over the Mirchpur issue, the Supreme Court today made it clear it would issue guidelines fixing governments’ responsibilities for preventing and dealing with such agitations.

“These things don’t happen on the spur of the moment. These are well-calculated to ensure their so-called grievances are heard,” a Bench comprising Justices GS Singhvi and AK Gantuly told Advocate-General HS Hooda and AAG Manjit Singh Dalal.

Hooda said the state government had appointed a Claims Commissioner headed by a retired Sessions Judge to settle demands for compensation arising from damage to property during the January 15-26 agitation.

Justice Singhvi said it was unfortunate that the losses and the inconvenience suffered by the passengers due to the agitation were not assessed by the authorities. Further, people did not have either time or money to approach the judiciary, seeking compensation.

The Bench passed an order asking the state government and the Railways to come prepared for the next hearing after three weeks. The court said it would hear arguments on four aspects of such agitations.

These are: Whether the state administration can allow, directly or indirectly, disruption of rail and road traffic in the name of peaceful agitation by any group, political or otherwise.

In the event of such disruptions, what is the responsibility of the state in maintaining law and order and bringing to book the persons involved in the agitation? If the Railways suffered losses on account of cancellation of trains and damage to property, should the state government be asked to reimburse the Railways? The Bench would also go into the steps required to be taken for preventing recurrence of such agitations.

The Bench passed the order after Additional Solicitor-General Harin Raval contended that the Haryana Government was responsible for recovering from the agitators the Rs 33.9-crore loss suffered by the Railways due to the agitation.

At the last hearing, the Bench had asked the state government to identify agitators and recover the losses from them. The dharna was in protest against the criminal cases filed against about 100 upper caste people who had allegedly attacked Dalits in Mirchpur village on April 21, 2010.

The Bench, meanwhile, allowed the 98 accused persons to intervene in the case pending with it. 

Sirsa, March 28
Representative of 52 villages of the Chopta block of the district today met at Nathusari Chopta and expressed resentment at the lack of development in their area.

Several present and past elected representatives of the panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) attended the meeting.

Nai Subah, an NGO, had called the meeting. The villagers submitted a memorandum to the authorities demanding the status of tehsil for Chopta besides some other development works.

Sube Singh Chaharwala, president of Nai Subah, alleged that 52 villages of the Chopta block had been left untouched by development due to several factors.

Thirty-five of 52 villages fall under the Ellenabad constituency while 17 others fall under the Sirsa constituency. As many as 15 villages of the Ellenabad constituency fall on the Rajasthan border.

“We have to go to Sirsa for administrative matters as the SDM sits there, but for policing matters our police station is attached with the DSP, Ellenabad. We have demanded a tehsil status for Chopta and we want that all our issues should be settled at one station,” Chaharwala said.

In a memorandum addressed to Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the Nai Subah also demanded a degree college for Chopta, extension of New Mangala Link Channel to Kheri, Gusaiana, Kumharia, Kagdana, Chaharwala and Jogiwala.

The memorandum, which was handed over to the naib tehsildar, for forwarding it to the CM, also sought a bus stand at Chopta, drainage system and fire tenders for the area.

“Though the boys manage to go outside for further studies, our girls have to leave their studies after completing their class XII as there is no degree college here. The supply of drinking water is so poor that residents of the villages falling on the Rajasthan border purchase drinking water for Rs 1,000 per tanker during summer,” Chaharwala maintained.

Khub Ram Suthar, district president of Nai Subah, Sant Lal Sharma, Ram Singh Beniwal, Balwinder Ludesar, Krishan Jogiwala, Ram Murti Kagdana, Hari Ram Hanjira and several other former and present panches and sarpanches of these villages were also present. 

Panipat, March 28
Close on the heels of Jats demanding quota in the government jobs, the Haryana Brahmins have now launched a stir demanding the same.

A large number of Brahmins today staged a dharna at Lal Batti Chowk and blocked traffic on the NH-1 before submitting a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner listing their demand for reservation.

The community members laid siege to the NH-1 for 20 minutes before proceeding towards the office of the Deputy Commissioner.

SDM Subhita Dhaka reached the spot to accept the memorandum on behalf of the district administration.

However, the community members refused to hand over the same to the SDM and went to Bal Bhawan, where Deputy Commissioner JS Ahlawat was holding a meeting and handed over the memorandum to him.

Claiming that their community was being neglected, they said most of the members of the community were economically backward, thus they should be given quota in government jobs.

The leaders of the community said if their demand was not met, they would also block the railway tracks and highways to press upon their demand.

Fatehabad, March 28
Undaunted by the renewed opposition to the Gorakhpur Atomic Power Project following nuclear crisis in Japan, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is confident of getting the go-ahead for the plant very soon.

The NPCIL authorities have held meetings with the district authorities, besides holding discussions with Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited officials following the Japan crisis.

The NPCIL is now waiting for the issuance of notification under Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act by the government, so that they can proceed further for starting the construction activity.

The government had issued the first notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act for acquiring 1,313 acres 5 kanals and 13 marlas of the village land for the project on July 20, 2010. As per the law, the notification under Section 6 needs to be issued within one year.

Opposition to the nuclear plant has increased considerably following the recent crisis in Japan.

Besides Gorakhpur farmers, who have been holding dharna outside the mini secretariat since August last year, several other organisations have also launched a fresh campaign against the proposed nuclear plant.

Even the opposition parties in the state have opposed the move. Leader of Opposition Om Parkash Chautala has gone to the extent of saying that there was no question of setting up the project after the Japan nuclear crisis. Since then, his party (INLD) workers have started joining protests and processions against the proposed plant.

Sanjay Gumashta, project manager of the Gorakhpur project, however said there were no parallels between the plant to be set up here and the one at Fukushima (Japan), where blasts and radiation leakage had been witnessed.

Gumasta said the NPCIL kept these concerns in mind right from the time when a site was selected for a project, to the construction of the building and throughout the functioning of the plant thereafter.

He said as per the previous guidelines, the NPCIL declared 1.6-km area around the plant as exclusion zone (where no habitation is allowed), but now the area has been reduced to 1 km in view of the advanced technology being used at nuclear power plants.

He said ever since India ventured into the area of nuclear power in sixties, there had been enormous upgrading in the plant construction and operational activities. Even the cooling system to be installed at the proposed Gorakhpur project would be more advanced than the one that malfunctioned at Fukushima plant in Japan recently.

“We have a pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR) that can shutdown automatically within two seconds in case of an emergency. Moreover, there will be four arrangements for ensuring power supply to the cooling system,” Gumasta added.

Badshahpur, March 28
Working on the concept of utilising the space lying unused underneath telecommunication towers, Viom Networks, a telecom infrastructure company, launched its first rural service centre here today. The centre, situated beneath a telecom tower near the local SBI branch, comprises an ATM and an e-learning facility.

Apart from ensuring optimal utilisation of the space, the concept also envisages the use of surplus solar energy tapped through the solar panels installed at the tower itself for running the public utilities/facilities established underneath.

Addressing a gathering after inaugurating the centre, Union Minister for Communication and Information Technology Kapil Sibal said the concept was based on the public-private partnership (PPP) model and aimed at utilising telecom infrastructure as social infrastructure as well.

“Instead of waiting for the provision of adequate infrastructure required for catering to people’s basic requirements like education and healthcare, we thought of putting the available infrastructure of the telecom sector to optimal social use,” the minister maintained.

He said talks with captains of the industry would now be held to discuss the modalities to evolve a socially beneficial service model based on the concept which would be financially viable for the companies as well.

Arun Kapur, CEO, Viom Networks, said though today’s launch was just a baby step, the concept had immense potential.

“Provision of facilities like elementary and computer education through e-learning centres, quality health care through storage of vaccines and telemedicine, regular and biometric ATMs, e-governance and electronic information display board will usher in the second round of telecom revolution in the country,” he observed.

Rohtak, March 28
Employment and creation of maximum job and business opportunities in the state has been the main focus of the state government as unemployment is growing up with the expansion of educational and professional training infrastructure. Haryana has already emerged as a hub of education and the strategy was to improve the quality of education at all levels.

This was stated by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda while addressing the locals at the canal rest house here today.

Visibly moved over the rise in criticism of the land acquisition policy of the state government, Hooda said it had been the best policy so far and efforts were on to make it more beneficial with respect to the farmers and land owners.

He said it was due to this policy that a large number of industrial units and business houses had come up in the state facilitating more employment and trading opportunities.

Hooda said while the number of recruitments in the government and the semi-government sectors during the past about six years had increased, the private and the self-employment sector had also grown during this period. The industrial and the commercial atmosphere in the state had been peaceful and motivating for entrepreneurs as there had been no problem of law and order or extortion.

He said as many as 7,500 cops had been recruited in the recent past and claimed that it would help in maintaining the law and order in a better manner.

Claiming that there had been a visible decrease in the crime graph of the state, he said the police officials had been directed to take strict action against the miscreants.

He said the government was committed to ensuring adequate water and power supply to all, including the agriculture sector, and the officials concerned had been asked to ensure water supply at all the tail ends.

Chandigarh, March 28
Haryana Agriculture Minister Paramvir Singh said here today that a committee would be constituted under the chairmanship of the Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Agriculture, to prepare a draft of the Haryana Water Control and Regulation Bill to address the twin problems of declining water table in fresh water zones and rise of water table in brackish water zones of the state.

The minister was presiding over a meeting of the representatives of various departments to discuss water table depletion and to draft a model Bill. He said a state-level seminar would be organised to invite comments on the issue. He said views of experts would also be sought on the model Bill.

Paramvir Singh said he had already made an announcement in the recently concluded Assembly session about the introduction of the Haryana Water Control and Regulation Act.

He said the state had declared 2011 as the “Water Conservation Year”. A number of steps were being taken for water conservation and arresting the depletion of water table. Apart from this, structures to harness water had been erected in both urban and rural areas to avoid stagnation of water and facilitate groundwater recharging. He said the Water Management Scheme had already been implemented in various districts of the state to ensure proper utilisation of water.

In the fresh water zones, the decline in water table was being attributed to the paddy-wheat crop cycle. In the saline zones, it was due to excessive use of surface water and very limited withdrawals due to unsuitability of underground water for cultivation.

Chandigarh, March 28
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today took suo motu notice of a communication alleging the lodging of a juvenile with criminals.

Taking up the issue, the Bench of Chief Justice Rajan Gogoi and Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia issued a notice of motion to the state of Haryana and other respondents for April 6.

Voluntary legal aid social worker Minna Kabir had referred to the report of a jailor to say that the juvenile, booked by the Delhi and Gurgaon police, was being taken care of by two convicts in the jail.

“His present lodging with convicted persons is not at all conducive to the reformation objective of the Juvenile Justice (care and protection of children) Act, 2000. 

Fatehabad, March 28
Five youths were arrested while they were allegedly selling fake Bt cotton seeds and fertilisers to farmers near Bhattu Kalan in this district.

The police also seized 240 packets of fake Bt cotton seeds and 15 packets of fertilisers from their possession.

The police has impounded the vehicle in which the items were loaded and arrested its driver.

A case has been registered under Sections 7, 10 and 55 of the Essential Commodities Act. The arrests were made as part of a joint action by the Agriculture Department and the police.

Dara Singh, a farmer from Khabra and Surinder and Devi Lal, both from Sulikhera, had complained to the agriculture authorities that these youths had been selling fake Bt cotton seed and fertilisers to unsuspecting farmers.

The youths, Pradeep Sharma, Sant Lal, Manu, Hitesh and Nasib, had come to 
the village to deliver goods booked by farmers earlier and for booking more orders.

When the agriculture authorities led by Balwant Saharan, Sub Divisional Agriculture Officer, raided the village, the youths were selling Bt cotton seed packets of 450 gm each for Rs 850 per pack and fertiliser packets of 10 kg for Rs 640 each. 

Jhajjar, March 28
Two labourers hailing from Uttar Pradesh were killed and another got injured when the tractor-trailer they were travelling in overturned near Jawaharlal Nehru Canal on the outskirts of Beri village here today.

The deceased have been identified Sunder of Pilibheet and Mohan of Lakhimpur. The injured has been admitted to a hospital, where his condition is stated to be out to danger.

The incident took place when the tractor-trailer loaded with construction material was on its way to Beri village from Charkhi Dadri of Bhiwani district. As the tractor reached near the canal, the driver lost control over the vehicle and the trailer overturned. Sunder and Mohan died on the spot.